The present invention relates to computer-aided instruction and, more particularly, to networked, interactive computer-based, corporate training.
In the corporate world, employee training is crucial for the long term economic health of a company. As the economy is becoming increasingly technology driven, the pace of business is rapidly accelerating. Information can be communicated across the globe in minutes, if not seconds. Financial transactions occur around the clock. Accordingly, business opportunities can spring up in an instant, only to vanish in a short time.
To meet these challenges, organizations have been radically re-engineering their work flow processes, e.g., by adopting just in time delivery of supplies. Firms have also been restructuring their operations and organization.
For example, the benefits obtained from being first to market with a new product or service can be squandered if the sales associates do not know about or properly understand the new offering. As another example, a business may need to modify its customer care policy in response to a rapidly changing market. In these examples, disseminating information through the enterprise quickly and effectively is critical for success.
Traditional approaches to corporate training, however, are becoming less effective in the current economic climate. Most corporate training still follows the leader-led training model. In the leader-led training model, an instructor would lecture before a classroom of students, asking questions, eliciting class participation, and assigning exercises to do. In other words, traditional corporate training is essentially similar to what happens in high-school, college, and university classrooms.
The disadvantages to leader-led corporate training are becoming increasingly apparent. Leader-led training suffers from its high costs and moderate effectiveness.
In many cases, corporate training centers are centrally located. Accordingly, students must travel to a training center. Often, the corporate training center is located in another city or state, necessitating travel and overnight accommodations. Thus, there is a need for reducing out-of-pocket training costs, especially in travel and accommodations, which consume up to 70% of the training budget.
Another reason contributing to the expense of out-of-town training is the travel time used by the employee. The more time taken for travel, the less time the employee has for more productive tasks. Thus, there is a need for improving employee job productivity.
The second drawback to leader-led training is in the area of effectiveness. Leader-led training is often boring, and a bored employee is not a satisfied employee. Unsatisfied employees are less productive and may leave the company, creating turnover. Thus, there is a need for interesting and enjoyable instruction.
Conventionally, an instructor lectures a classroom of students. Each student learns at a different pace, causing difficulties for the instructor. If the pace of the instruction is too fast, the slower students get lost and do not learn. If the pace of instruction is too slow, then the brighter students get bored and tune out. In any event, the faster learners are instructed at the same pace as slower learners, necessitating more time away from the job. Thus, there is a need for training students at their own pace.
Another aspect to the effectiveness in corporate training is in the consistency of the information being taught. If a large number of employees must be provided with information, then several instructors must be hired. However, these instructors are human and thus teach the same material differently. Thus, there is a need for consistency in the corporate training.
Retention is an important goal in corporate instruction. Traditional leader-led instruction mainly involves lecturing and, perhaps, projecting slides or drawing on a chalkboard. However, these methods have not been found to be highly effective. For example, one study has shown that on average people remember only 20% of what they see or hear and 40% of what they both see and hear. Thus, there is a need for increasing the retention level of training.
Another area in which leader-led training is becoming more disadvantageous is in being up-to-date. With the fast pace of today""s technological world, it is imperative to update the training material at once to reflect the new products, services, or information and immediately disseminate the material to the work force. Thus, there is a need for quickly updating the training materials.
Broadly, the concept of computer-aided instruction has been around for some time to generally address some of the drawbacks associated with leader-based training. However, conventional computer-based training techniques have not been satisfactorily applied to the corporate training environment in particular.
For example, computer-based learning systems have very specific hardware requirements, but companies typically own a range of incompatible computers, from personal computers (PCs) or multi-user minicomputers and mainframes. Equipping all their distributed learning centers with specialized hardware can be very expensive. Thus, there is a need for resource flexibility.
Often the software in a computer-based training system is so specific to a particular course that creating computerized teaching material for a new class requires writing the software again from scratch. Rewriting the software is time-consuming and expensive. Thus, there is a need for reducing the development time and costs training programs.
When each computerized course is created separately, the user interface of one course often different from the user interface of another course, forcing each student to learn a new way of interacting with the program. Accordingly, some of the time spent with the computer is spent on learning to use the program rather than the material intended to be taught. Thus, there is a need for improving employee training productivity.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a computer-based training system that is applicable to today""s fast-paced, technology-driven corporate world.
One object of the invention is to provide a network for delivering computer-based training materials and instruction.
Another object of the invention is to provide interactive computer-based instruction.
Still another object of the invention is presenting instructional materials in a multimedia format.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a method and software for instructing a student based on courseware. Courseware includes multimedia content and lesson files. A lesson file has a number of pages. Each page includes a reference to multimedia content and a navigational item associated with another page. The method and software include the step of instructing a student based on a page of a lesson file. In addition, a navigational control associated with the navigational item is displayed. When activation of the navigational control is detected, the student is further instructed based on the page associated with the navigational item.
According to another aspect of the invention, an interactive training network comprises a storage device for the storing the courseware and workstations. These workstations are networked to the storage device and have means for retrieving a lesson file and multimedia content referenced in the lesson file from the storage device based on input from a student. The workstations further have means for instructing the student according to the lesson file and the multimedia content.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method and software for interactive training includes the step of storing courseware. A lesson file and multimedia content referenced in the lesson file is retrieved based on input from a student. The student is instructed according to the lesson file and the multimedia content.
In another aspect, a platform-independent, interactive training network has a storage device for storing courseware. A first training means retrieves the courseware and runs it in a first operating environment. A second training means retrieves the same course and runs it in a second operating environment that is mutually incompatible with the first operating environment.
Accordingly, another aspect is attained by a tool, method, and software for authoring lessons. A storyboard, which includes a navigational item to another storyboard and a reference to multimedia content, is input and stored in a database. Storyboards are retrieved from the database and are used to generate a lesson file, which has a number of pages. Each page includes a reference to multimedia content and a navigational item associated with another pages.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.